


Something Precious

by Fyre



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-10
Updated: 2012-09-10
Packaged: 2017-11-13 23:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyre/pseuds/Fyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An exploded cauldron. A ruined book. A sorcerer learning a lesson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Precious

**Author's Note:**

> gingerwhovianrobotskeleton prompted: Rumpel accidentally ruins one of Belle's favorite books

“What did you do?”

Rumpelstiltskin rocked on the balls of his feet. “A little unforeseen side effect.”

Belle stared around the kitchen. It looked like the cauldron she often used to make soup had exploded, showering the room with the remains of her latest cookery attempt. “A little side effect?”

He giggled awkwardly. “Well, the walls are still intact and it’s only a little splatter.”

Belle rubbed her forehead. It was a never ending life of surprise, living in the castle of a Dark Sorcerer. 

One day, a snow storm settled in the parlour, and only left when she chased it out with a flaming torch. Another, she found a nest of white rabbits building watches in one of the downstairs cupboards. They had looked at her reproachfully when she tried to shoo them to freedom, and went back to work on their watches. 

“What exactly were you trying to do?”

His lips twitched when he glanced sidelong at her, and she knew suddenly that it was no unforeseen side effect. 

She turned on him, hands on her hips. “You don’t like my soup,” she said. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it? Unforeseen side effect, my uncle’s left foot! You blew up my soup because you don’t like it!”

If he had been anyone else, she might have believed he was trying to back away without moving at all. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, dearie,” he said with a dismissive wave. “I was casting a charm that required fire, and if your soup was to be the price of magic… well, it’s a tragic cost, but I think we both can live.”

She made a face at him. “Or you could just tell me you don’t like my cooking,” she said.

“And be forced to find a new maid, when I’m just getting used to you?” He tutted, shaking his head. “No, no, no. We can’t have that.”

It was silly how happy that made her.

She hid her smile by picking her way across the soup-spattered kitchen. It was only when she was halfway that she remembered what she had come back for. It wasn’t because of the explosion, or even to check the simmering soup.

“Oh no!”

There was a shift in the air. Rumpelstiltskin said cautiously from behind her, “Something amiss, dearie? Lost your bread too?”

“My book!” She forgot about the risk to her shoes to paddle through the pools of soup to the shelf by the fire. It was a safe height so she always stored her book there, but nothing could have saved it from the exploding and thickened mess of soup. “It’s ruined!” She wiped the worst of the spatter away with her apron, but couldn’t keep the tears from stinging at her eyes. 

Rumpelstiltskin was suddenly at her side and she blinked hard. Tears rolled down her cheek and he put out a finger, catching one. He lifted it on the tip of his claw, gazing at it in bemusement, then looked at her. “This book is so precious to you?”

Belle hastily wiped her cheeks. “I-I…it’s silly, really. Mama. She used to read it to me. When I was small.” She laughed so shakily that her voice gave way and broke. “Before she went away. When I found a copy in your library…” She shook her head. “Sorry. It’s not my book to be upset about.” She tried to smile. “It’s only my soup.”

Rumpelstiltskin looked down at the ruined book in her hands. Belle touched the stained cover. Even if she wiped all the soup off it, the pages were already soaked and probably stuck together. There would be no saving it.

“Why that book?” he finally asked. “There are thousands of others. Why did she read you that one?”

Belle looked at the cover. The Sleeping Beauty’s tale was one she loved. “Because the ogres were coming. Because there was battle on the way. Because everything seemed so bad and dark, and Mama wanted me to know that even in the worst of times, even when you feel like all that’s waiting is death, you can’t let it rule your life. You have to take chances. You have to be brave, because it’s better to take the chance and live for a little while, than hide away and wait for the end to come.” 

She looked up from the cover. 

Rumpelstiltskin was staring at her, as if he had never seen her before. He put one hand out blindly and the book shivered under his fingertips. The stains and stickiness vanished. The book looked exactly as it had.

“Oh!” Belle flicked through the pages in delight. Not a mark remained. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

He shrugged. “It’s no matter,” he said, turning abruptly. His mood seemed to have dropped and he stalked towards the door.

“Wait!” she called. “The price. Doesn’t all magic have a price?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “You have already given me something precious, dearie,” he said quietly.

“I-I have?”

One side of his mouth turned up just a little. “You have.” He continued towards the door and wagged a finger back over his shoulder. “But no more soup.”

Belle smiled, then looked around the mess of the kitchen. “No risk of that,” she said to herself.


End file.
